ERIC Number: EJ1444514
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023-Sep
Pages: 6
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9584
EISSN: EISSN-1938-1328
Computational Investigation of Isotopic Labeling: A Pandemic Inspired Activity
Michael W. Pelter; Libbie S. W. Pelter; Phillip I. Dinga; Nicholas E. Ernst; Madison L. Schultz
Journal of Chemical Education, v100 n9 p3677-3682 2023
A cornerstone activity in undergraduate organic laboratories revolves around students running instrumental analysis on their products and interpreting their spectra. They are left to link the theory they have learned in lecture to practical spectral interpretation. Students often memorize benchmark interpretations of peaks, such as the broad alcohol absorbance in infrared spectroscopy (IR). However, students often do not correlate the absorbance frequency to the actual vibrational mode. Given more nuanced spectra to interpret, like the difference between a hydrogen and a deuterium on an alcohol, students often miss the differences between the spectra. The GAMESS computational software package accessed through the Web interface ChemCompute is successfully used by students here to generate IR spectra of different isotopically labeled alcohols. This Web-based portal provides multiple benefits to the students: (1) The computational software is accessible through any browser on most common operating systems (including Chromebooks), (2) generating IR spectra for multiple products allows students to predict differences in spectra to compare to their actual IR data reinforcing prediction in the scientific method, and (3) the software links the differences in isotopes to structural vibrational modes visualized in the software allowing students to link theory to practice in spectral interpretation.
Descriptors: Undergraduate Students, Chemistry, Science Instruction, Organic Chemistry, Spectroscopy, Courseware, Computer Assisted Instruction, Comparative Testing, Science Achievement
Division of Chemical Education, Inc. and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A